By the time Nihar Suthar was a junior at Cornell University, he had two internships under his belt. 

The economics major began his search for a high-paid internship during the fall of his junior year. After submitting more than 40 applications over five months, the 21-year-old landed a paid internship at General Electric Co.’s corporate headquarters last summer.

“I think the thing that worked for me was starting as early as possible,” says Suthar, who received three job offers after graduating from college this year. “Most people would say GE – that’s a great internship.”

A competitive, paid internship not only opens doors for full-time work, but it also can help students pay for college.

Suthar saved $4,000 last summer from his internship at GE, which he says paid $750 a week, and used the money to pay for college expenses during his senior year. The Cornell grad also says his paid internship helped him nab a full-time job at Roland Berger, a global strategy consulting firm.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers finds that the chances of securing a full-time job after graduation is greatly improved with an internship – especially a paid one.

The District of Columbia-based organization in its annual survey finds that more than 60 percent of interns from the class of 2015 were paid, and the majority of those were in the private sector.

It’s not surprising for one internship at a big technology company or global energy brand, which are paid highly, to receive hundreds of applications for one role, says Scott Dobroski, a career trends analyst at Glassdoor, a website where employees and former employees review companies and their management.

But paid internships at places that pay a little less can be just as rewarding, he says.

“Some internships where the pay is not nearly as handsome, we still see that satisfaction is high,” Dobroski says. “Interns like working at NBCUniversal or Walt Disney because they feel like they’re doing work that matters.”

The average salary of an intern at The Walt Disney Co. earns around $16 an hour, which is much lower compared with tech companies such as Google, which pays a software engineer intern around $41 an hour, according to Glassdoor data.

Rachel Roizin-Prior, a double major in marketing and communications at Ithaca College, found a paid summer internship at advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners after submitting more than 30 applications.

The San Francisco firm pays an advertising intern between $15 and $16 an hour, according to Glassdoor.

“It was paid the highest of all them, and I’ll be able to pay my food and rent and save a bit of money going into my senior year,“ says the 20-year-old about her internship choices; she hopes to save around $2,000 this summer.

To land a sought-after, paid internship, here are some ways college students can set themselves up for compensated work experience. 

• Start early: “I started in August,” says Roizin-Prior, “I made a spreadsheet of when different application dates were due.”

She says she also applied to local internships – which tend to have later deadlines – to hedge her odds on finding a summer internship.

• Take an unpaid internship after freshmen year: “As a freshman, it’s hard to even get an internship unless it’s local,” Suthar says. “Don’t worry if you have to build your way up from an unpaid internship – you’ll get a paid internship ultimately in your junior year.”

An unpaid internship can help students gain work experience to look more attractive for a paid internship, recruiting experts say.

“A lot of applicants and those selected have had previous internships either paid or unpaid,” says Billie Kellar, director of human resources at Gatesman+Dave, a Pittsburgh-based marketing agency that pays its summer interns. The agency says it selected 10 interns from more than 350 applicants this year.

• Consider a paid internship at a startup: Rachel Willis, a 20-year-old intern at Gatesman+Dave, says that prior to interning at the agency she worked as a public relations marketing intern at Small Farm Central, an e-commerce startup, for $10 an hour.   

The Duquesne University student says she worked 120 hours a semester both in the fall and spring, earning experience and money for college. Willis attributes her experience at the startup for helping her land a competitive, paid internship this summer.

• Network with contacts: Willis says she also made an effort to show her interest in Gatesman+Dave, establishing a point of contact at the agency months before the February internship application deadline.

“I initiated a conversation with one of their account executives,” says Willis, who credits keeping in touch with contacts for gaining a foot in the door. “I asked if I could shadow her for a day and meet a few more people on the team.”

Other students say reaching out to college alumni gave them a boost in the application process.

“I reached out to friends of family and alumni on LinkedIn,” says Roizin-Prior, who contacted marketing professionals within her network at places where she wanted to intern. “I think saying that you know someone makes a big impact.”

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